luni, 10 octombrie 2011

Stalking 5,000 strangers in Sfantu-Gheorghe

Counting: 6 days, 5,000 strangers, 100 films, short and long, tens of musicians and actors, at least 20 Dr. Peppers to be drunk bottom-up like there is no other liquid left on earth. Counting on: 4 great bands of musicians, several bloggers, at least 50 songs and one soundcheck that makes your heart blast. And I was stalking them every day, each day of my tremendous beautifully week at Anonimul, the “festival on sand”, or Ano- this was the endearment term used by organizers.

3 miles closer
For those who have never been there – and I think, one should not die or leave for some resort in Thailand unless one first went to Anonimul festival in Romania – may I present it to you a little bit, differently than what you can see on their official site. The first day starts when getting off the boat at Delta Marina little harbor, grabbing with dedication the 5 huge pieces of luggage, followed by a walk in the very fine sand among the houses of Sfantu Gheorghe village, looking at the sight of the Oblio-like reed roofs of Green Village, making your way by the local carts of the village inhabitants and holiday entrepreneurs. Which eventually take you to the final destination: your room. Smelling like it has been recently cleaned, fresh and your hot skin absorbs the air. You are there, in the middle of Sfantu Gheorghe, 3 miles away from the beach, 3 miles and 1 meter away from the Black Sea and from the Danube. See the pictures; they speak louder than words or imagination.

Youngsters and gadgets
To keep on stalking the 5,000 strangers present at the Anonimul festival is not such an easy job to do, even for a holiday professional. You have to be up early in the morning, in spite of having stayed up until late hours the previous night, watching movies on the outdoor large screen in the Dolphin campus. It’s a hard job having to watch every day that young and very young and awfully young crowd of people in their 20’s and 30’s, and sometimes even in their teens, handling their cool devices- such as Ipads, cells and Macs, colorful and XXL-seized tin hats… and not to be intoxicated with that dizziness and sweet feeling, felt only when you fell in love. From morning to evening, no matter where my daily summer plans  carried me, I always knew that each evening, starting at around 7 pm and lasting until midnight and even after, I will have my date with all that beautiful crowd  and that I had it for  me only.

The festival people 
A  Monday at Anonimul festival looks like a Friday at Anonimul Festival. The colors, the hipsters, the flower-power girls with fancy clothes worn in a studied loose way, the thick-framed glasses of the boys. They are everywhere, talking lazy, laughing loud, drinking coffee or beer, smoking relaxed and looking like they know they look beautiful this summer and every summer.  For those unfamiliar with the lights of the theatre or the movie stage, you will be surprised to see so many VIPs all together in the remote place, coming out of the TV set and blending with the common people. You would see the tall and mystic Florin Piersic Jr. listening to the concert of ND tango on Wednesday, or Horia Roman Patapievici taking a long walk on the beach with his mates, on Thursday. The actor, Marius Manole, too sensitive to act within a world of budgets and cost estimations and lovely because of this, you could have found him and just said Hello there, in the campus. Not to mention the very tender and admiring feeling that overwhelms when you see Victor Rebengiuc and Mariana Mihut, walking hand in hand, that you almost burst into tears.
There are many others, the artists from ND Tango, Dj Gojira , the artists from the movies, the waitress always running for a napkin taken by the wind, the inhabitants of the village with their  cooked fish served every evening, the little world where you feel connected  to a real daily existence and not only the comfort of a  holiday. And so many others, from Slovenia, Lithuania, France, Germany, Austria,  Bulgaria, or other neighboring countries, where film directors, actors, friends of actors, families or students are looking forward each summer to Sfantul Gheorghe and the film festival.


The Monday to Sunday big rush

The thing with a festival is that you do not have enough time for everything. You can’t talk to each of the 5,000 people. You can’t be exactly on time to hear all the concerts in the evening. You can’t stay until 4 am to see the last movie and then, to catch the sunrise, eat breakfast, go to get burned by the sun until afternoon, go back in the village to eat, see another film, vote for it, drink a beer, talk to your friends, go and buy some candies from the supermarket (there are a few kiosks in Sfantu Gheorghe but you can find anything there, from  slippers to  fine wine), come back to the campus to take a photo, go online to post your messages and photos on Facebook, check your emails, listen to the next concert, eat, and start watching the next movies until morning again. Sounds like a good plan but pretty impossible to do it all, constantly. The energy from the place urges you to do it all, each day.

Ever seen a frog in winter?  
 The approach regarding the films in the festival differs depending on the audience profile- and it can be a big difference. If you come to Sfantu Gheorghe as a regular visitor and sun-hunter, the films screened during the day at the Dolphin campus will remain a mystery to you. If, on the contrary, your focus is the festival, then, you must be a holiday spender with credentials, and have a balanced mix of film talk, films seen, film break, surrounded by your kind. If trying to balance the film with the regular holiday schedule- back and forth to the beach- your week will look like a survival race to your spirit torn between two options: being a culture vulture or being a regular tourist. Sooner or later, you will break down and will have to choose between the long sun bathe and watching the films like a real juror.

The first day of the Festival met the audience with the celebration of the Palme d’Or winner, Terrence Malick, with his “Tree of life”. If you see the movie, you can find a very severe and assertive father in Brad Pitt, different than you’ve imagined him to be.  The award for Best Fiction Short film went to “Winter Frog”, directed by Slony Sow, a film which enriched me with a Chinese superstition saying that “if you see a frog in winter, luck will be with you forever”. My plans this winter include the pursuit of good luck. The film presents a Gerard Depardieu, still hefty but so tender, playing in a very delicate metaphor that celebrates humanity in all of us. The audience applauded by giving their reward to Growing, directed by Roxana Bentu, winner at Best Animation Short film. Even if rewarded with the Festival trophy at Vilnius, the Romanian film  Periferic, with an authentic Ana Ularu,  lost the Ano’ trophy by only 3 votes, to make place for the Slovakian- Czech co-production The House, directed by Zuzana Liova, voted by 123 fans.

 The closing
There is nothing but a street sign that certifies my presence at the Festival this year. Since by the time I left, the sign wasn’t there anymore, I ask my favorite question to the already gone summer: “Do you see the traffic sign?” If yes, don’t think it is a metaphor or something, it was only a very cute outdoor teaser to a local from Sfantu Gheorghe who was selling fish bait and indicated through that sign, the location of his house. Still, because we like films and search for a meaning in every little thing, I will tag my Anonimul experience of this year with it. 

Report by McFlea. Pictures by Herr von Fitzen.